Dental Care
It’s easy to forget that a pet’s world revolves around their mouth.
Poor dental hygiene can leave its mark on your pet. Contrary to popular belief, bad breath (halitosis) is not a common condition in cats and dogs! It often indicates a serious underlying condition called periodontal disease, which affects the mouth, gums, and teeth.
Why You Should Visit Your Vet for Pet Dentistry Services
Not all pet dentistry services are created equally. At Bethany Family Pet Clinic, we’re dedicated to providing the absolute best pet care and to forming lasting relationships with you and your pets. When you have your pets’ teeth cleaned at our veterinary clinic, you ensure that your pets receive the best care possible!
We also complete all dentistry services in one visit, eliminating the need for multiple trips and multiple anesthetic procedures. We take precautions to ensure that your pet is healthy enough for cleanings as well. Many low-cost dental facilities don’t do blood work before cleanings, which increases the danger of the procedure. Preanesthetic blood work lets us know if a pet is healthy enough for anesthesia, and we run these blood tests before every single dental procedure we conduct.
We know you and your pets personally, so we know the nuances in their behaviors and personalities, and we know the ins and outs of their health histories. Since we have relationships with you and your pets already, we know the kind of specific care they may need. Plus, your pets are already familiar and comfortable with our clinic and our veterinary staff.
What Is Periodontal Disease?
Periodontal disease is the most common medical disorder among pets nationwide, affecting more than 80 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats by age three. If left untreated, it will lead to tooth loss and can also develop into serious health problems. Advanced dental disease significantly impacts your pet’s quality of life, leading to oral pain and infection that makes eating uncomfortable, resulting in chronic discomfort. In some cases, harmful bacteria originating in the mouth can enter the bloodstream, causing serious complications of the heart, kidneys, and liver as well as other systemic disorders.
The Importance of Preventative Dental Care
Fortunately, due to its generally slow rate of progression, dental disease is preventable. Just like in humans, a good oral health routine is key for avoiding most types of periodontal disease. The first (and best) line of defense in preventative pet dental care is routine examinations and complete dental cleanings. In addition to comprehensively evaluating your pet’s oral health, these visits at Bethany Family Pet Clinic consist of ultrasonic and hand scaling along with curettage to remove plaque and tartar, polishing and rinsing, all of which improve tooth and gum health significantly.
It is most important to remove tartar and plaque that hides under the gum line. General anesthesia is an important part of your pet’s complete dental cleaning, as it is impossible to remove tartar from the inside surfaces of the teeth and from under your pet’s gum line without general anesthesia. Any dental cleaning performed without general anesthesia is only cosmetic and provides no real health benefit to dogs and cats. At Bethany Family Pet Clinic, we only provide safe anesthesia for our pet patients.
Veterinary dentistry has developed rapidly over the past fifteen years and is now approaching the same sophisticated techniques that are available in human dentistry. Pets who have received modern veterinary dental procedures and regular professional cleanings have an increased lifespan and improved quality of life.
Bethany Family Pet Clinic offers complete oral health services, including:
- Regular dental cleanings
- Digital dental X-rays
- Preventative dental care
- Periodontal disease treatment
- Bonded sealants for fractured teeth
- Extraction if indicated for oral pain relief
Schedule An Appointment Today
To Make An Appointment for a dental exam or cleaning, call us at 503-614-9061.